Rewinding On Snapshots
by Candy for Keyblades
Summary: Sora keeps his memories like a photo album. In snapshots. That's what Riku found out when he dove into his heart to revive him. But Riku has his own snapshots to remember, to reflect on. And while he's thinking about them, Sora has something important to tell him. Soriku. Post DDD.


Everything seemed to drift. To pull and push and return just like the waves of the island. It was funny. That island seemed dreamlike now. Even after he'd returned it hadn't been real.

_He _had been the only thing that seemed real enough to hold onto. And even he faded in and out of Riku's mind like the tide. Like a mirage in the desert, where he was parched for an anchor of some kind and the only one to be found was too good to be true.

_"Are you what's trapping him in that nightmare? 'Cause if you are, I'm what nightmares fear!"_

He knew all about nightmares. He'd been one. He knew about how they came from his own heart. His own darkness. His own desires.

Sora had been in danger. He almost lost Sora. If Lea hadn't...it would have been over. There wouldn't have been anymore Sora. There wouldn't have been anymore sunshine. There wouldn't have been anymore blue sky or blue eyes that made him melt.

When he dove into Sora's heart...when he was falling down towards that most precious gem he'd ever seen, Sora's memories had surrounded him. They were like snapshots. Photos. It reminded him of Roxas - how his friend, Pence, had taken so many of him. How they were all gone now except for one. Maybe that was why Sora remembered in pictures like that...for Roxas.

There were pictures of Kairi, King Mickey, Donald, Goofy, the gang from Radiant Garden, and so many others he'd never met. And then...there was this once picture, this one image that made him hold his breath. It was from after they'd finally returned home, just before Kairi ran up to them with the King's bottled message. They stood next to each other in the receding light of sunset, Riku's finger against Sora's heart. There was warmth around that photo.

Riku had wondered about that moment several times. If it had lasted just a little longer, would something more have happened?

But, soon he was plunged into battle with the dark armored figure, trying to pull Sora from the darkness of slumber. And then there were three pair of blue eyes, Ansem the Wise, and light.

When he sat up to see the little dork wearing that ridiculous mustache and pair of glasses, the only thing he could think was, _'Oh my god he's okay thank goodness I can't believe it, please be real.' _And it was real. And he was real. And he was the only thing Riku could process as he was hugged and tackled.

When all finally settled, Master Yen Sid insisted that they'd endured enough for now, and that they should take a short break to visit at home before the next storm. Sora and Riku swiftly accepted while Kairi decided to stay and continue her training. She was determined to catch up before Lea did. Riku sensed a rivalry coming about.

And so, he found himself once again leaning against the Paopu tree with Sora at his side, and he wondered if things would ever change. Riku was a closet romantic. He dreamed about cuddles, about kisses – about everything completely unmanly and he didn't give a damn because those were the most simple things in the world and he wanted them so badly.

When Sora had been in that pod, he would wait until Ansem was done for the day with maintenance. He'd sit in front of it and talk to Sora. He would tell him about Roxas and Naminé and the Organization and the loneliness. And he would start off trying to talk about how close he was to bringing him back, to fixing things and being happy again... But then, he would slip into the bleak solitude and it would just fucking _hurt _because he was right there, right in front of him, and he couldn't touch him or hear him or see him smile and it was just so _wrong _and_ sick_ and, _'Sora, please. I'm so alone and I can't take it anymore and I fucked everything up with Maleficent and Ansem's heartless and I'm sorry and it's like there's no light anymore and I miss you so much I can't breathe and I'm scared that this will never end – please, Sora. It hurts and I just want it to stop.'_

He'd reach up to find his blindfold wet. Once, Naminé found him like that, and she couldn't say anything. She couldn't lie to him. He just found a new picture on her wall the next day. It was of him, in front of the pod, his shoulders slumped. Sora was inside.

He wanted to cry all over again.

"So I guess you know now." His voice was quiet, tentative.

Riku snapped out of his daze to look at Sora. For the first time since Riku had been named Keyblade Master, he wasn't smiling. He looked sheepish. "You're gonna have to specify, because I have no idea what you're talking about."

He crossed his arms and very nearly pouted. "Yeah, you do. You went into my heart to wake me up, remember? You saw my memories and my feelings. There's no way you couldn't know now."

Riku pushed himself off of the tree to stand in front of the other boy, who was stubbornly refusing to meet his gaze. "I honestly don't, Sora. In case you forgot, I was a little bit preoccupied with other things. Didn't really have time to snoop around in your emotions."

"But..." He struggled for a moment. Finally uncrossing his arms and meeting Riku's eyed, he said, "You really didn't?"

"No." Riku smiled softly, his white hair rustling slightly in the sea breeze. "But now I'd kinda like to know what's got you so worried."

His eyes widened and he let out a nervous laugh. "Oh, it's, uh, nothing, now that I think about it. Why don't we go get ice cream or something?"

"How about later? I want to know, Sora. It clearly states in the Official Best Friend Contract Agreement that I have entitlement to all secrets and embarrassing stories." They both laughed and Sora looked away once more. Riku's eyes softened, and he gently gripped Sora's upper arm. "It's not nothing, is it Sora?"

He looked away again. "No. You're right. It's not. It's just, something I've been sorta slowly realizing for a while now. mostly when I was on the second journey with Donald and Goofy, when we fought Xemnas. I guess during and especially after the entire mess," he shrugged, "it's just become something I don't doubt anymore. It's really clear and solid for me now."

Riku paused. "What ha–" He didn't get to finish, because at this point in the story, Sora took it upon himself to tell Riku his secret. Not with words though. Sora was never the best with words. So, instead, he spoke through touch. He told his story with arms around Riku's neck, his fingers woven in his silver hair, his heartbeat up against the other's, and his breath against Riku's pale skin.

However, if you were expecting Sora to be kissing Riku right about now, you'd be wrong. Not because he didn't want to, but because teenagers are frightened creatures, and thus do not make a habit of taking such risks in times of great uncertainty. Not even warriors of the light and saviors of the universe.

So, Sora was hugging Riku as tightly as he could and trying very hard to get the point across that this was not a friend-hug, but a hug of very different nature. One with slight homosexual undertone, a dash of hope, and desperation. Lots and lots of desperation.

At this exact millisecond in time, Riku was slammed by possibly two million different thoughts at once, causing his brain to become momentarily paralyzed and his jaw to drop. His love satellites picked up the signals Sora transmitted. Soon the algorithms for the appropriate response were inputted, everything calculated, and the exact amount of arm strength needed to return the hug and send similar frequencies was measured out to the mark.

He thought of the pod, and of the snapshot memories Sora held. Of that moment after they'd returned with his finger on Sora's heart. He thought about Naminé's drawings and the way Maleficent's nails would dig into his shoulder when he was fifteen. About the blindfold and Roxas. He thought about when they closed the door, and being trapped in the dark realm. He remembered one of the conversations he'd had with Mickey.

_"It's over. They're safe."_

_"Gosh, Riku, you sound tired. I don't blame you. This whole kerfluffle's been real hard on everybody."_

_"Yeah." He sat down on the sand, Mickey following to stand beside him. "I might never see him again," he whispered. As if were he to speak it too loudly, it might become true._

_Mickey looked down at him, and then out to the water. He sighed. "You know, Minnie's waiting for me back home. She's been really strong – pretty much run the whole kingdom by herself since I've been gone, running around. I miss her a lot... Do you have someone like that, Riku? Someone you love so much that, why, you'd do just about anything for them?"_

_"..." He pulled off his gloves and inspected the calluses on his hands. "For a while," he started. "...I convinced myself that I loved Kairi. And I do, but not the way I thought I did. Everything that I've done...all the choices I made...they all revolved around Sora. And when I finally realized how much I was hurting him and everyone else, all I wanted to do was fix it."_

_"And you have."_

_"No. I haven't... I'm just now starting to get it. I love Sora more than anything else. But I'm unstable. I can't be sure I know what's right and wrong and I'm just not good for him. I'm not safe. I'll hurt him."_

_He felt the mouse's hand on his back. "You're young, Riku. You're bound to make slip-ups. We all do. Yes, the one you made were pretty big. But, you learned from them, didn't 'cha? You're a whole bunch stronger and wiser now than you were before all this. You have the power to choose a new path for yourself and make yourself better. You can protect Sora and all the other folks you care about because you know better now..." Mickey sat next to him. "And you know, I think you'd hurt him the most by trying to stay away."_

It occurred to Riku that he had a lot of snapshots too. Many of them were painful. But many were also bright, just like Sora's.

Sora was nuzzling into his neck. They both tightened their grips. Riku rested his forehead on Sora's slim shoulder, and he just kept thinking that it was so unreal and that there was no way he could be so happy and warm, but here he was and there was just no way but it was true. "You know, according to the Official Best Friend Contract Agreement, you also have certain entitlements to my secrets and embarrassing stories."

He giggled. "Really? Was that all in the fine print?"

"Yeah. And my secret is that I really, really don't want to move for a long time because I've wanted this so badly for so long."

There was wetness on his neck. Sora sniffled. "I'm not so sure you understand how worried I was while I couldn't find you for all those months. Or how sad I was every time I thought I found you, but I hadn't."

Riku hummed and pulled Sora down on his lap. "I would talk to you. The whole time you were asleep. I would talk to you for hours..."

"Riku?"

"Hm?"

I don't want us to have to remember anymore sad stories. So let's just stick together from now on, okay?"

Riku smiled gently and brought Sora's knuckles to his lips. "Okay. I think I like that idea."

Slowly, they fell asleep against the trunk of the Paopu, the sunset of Destiny Islands sinking behind gentle waters. Eventually Wakka wandered over and discovered them. He smirked, and pulled out his phone, aiming the small camera on them. Selphie was gonna have a field day.

"Well, it's about damn time, ya?"


End file.
